Quotes about try
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Marilyn Manson photo
John Cage photo
Isaac Bashevis Singer photo
Tupac Shakur photo
Ramana Maharshi photo
Dr. Seuss photo
Jimmy Carter photo

“Failure is a reality; we all fail at times, and it's painful when we do. But it's better to fail while striving for something wonderful, challenging, adventurous, and uncertain than to say, " I don't want to try because I may not succeed completely.”

Jimmy Carter (1924) American politician, 39th president of the United States (in office from 1977 to 1981)

Source: Sources of Strength: Meditations on Scripture for a Living Faith

Chris Rock photo

“Only dumb people try to impress smart people. Smart people just do what they do.”

Chris Rock (1965) American comedian, actor, screenwriter, television producer, film producer, and director
Brandon Mull photo

“When jumping is the sole option, you jump, and try to make it work.”

Brandon Mull (1974) American fiction writer

Source: Grip of the Shadow Plague

Osama bin Laden photo

“First, for over seven years the United States has been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of places, the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbors, and turning its bases in the Peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the neighboring Muslim peoples.
If some people have in the past argued about the fact of the occupation, all the people of the Peninsula have now acknowledged it. The best proof of this is the Americans' continuing aggression against the Iraqi people using the Peninsula as a staging post, even though all its rulers are against their territories being used to that end, but they are helpless.
Second, despite the great devastation inflicted on the Iraqi people by the crusader-Zionist alliance, and despite the huge number of those killed, which has exceeded 1 million… despite all this, the Americans are once again trying to repeat the horrific massacres, as though they are not content with the protracted blockade imposed after the ferocious war or the fragmentation and devastation.
So here they come to annihilate what is left of this people and to humiliate their Muslim neighbors.
Third, if the Americans' aims behind these wars are religious and economic, the aim is also to serve the Jews' petty state and divert attention from its occupation of Jerusalem and murder of Muslims there. The best proof of this is their eagerness to destroy Iraq, the strongest neighboring Arab state, and their endeavor to fragment all the states of the region such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Sudan into paper statelets and through their disunion and weakness to guarantee Israel's survival and the continuation of the brutal crusade occupation of the Peninsula.”

Osama bin Laden (1957–2011) founder of al-Qaeda

1990s, Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders (1998)

Jordan Peterson photo

“Mary is the great mother. She is the mother. That's what Mary is. Whether she existed or not, is not the point. She exists at least as a hyper-reality. She exists as the mother. What's the sacrifice of the mother? That's easy: if you're a mother who's worth her salt, you offer your son to be destroyed by the world. That's what you do. And that's what's going to happen. He's going to be born, he's going to suffer, he's going to have his trouble in life, he's going to have his illnesses, he's going to face his failures and catastrophes, and he's going to die. That's what's going to happen, and if you're awake you know that, and then you say, 'well, perhaps he will live in a way that will justify that.' And then you try to have that happen. And that's what makes you worthy of a statue like [The Pieta]. 'Is it right to bring a baby into this terrible world?' Well, every woman asks herself that question. Some say no, and they have their reasons. Mary answers 'yes' voluntarily. Mary is the archetype of the woman who answers yes to life voluntarily. Not because she is blind. She knows what's going to happen. So, she's the archetypal representation of the woman who says yes to life knowing full well what life is. She's not naive. She's not someone who got pregnant in the backseat of a 1957 Chevy during one night of half-drunk idiocy. Not that. She does so consciously. Consciously, knowing what's to come. And then she allows it to happen, which is a testament to mothers.”

Jordan Peterson (1962) Canadian clinical psychologist, cultural critic, and professor of psychology

Bible Series V: Cain and Abel: The Hostile Brothers
Concepts

Leonard Cohen photo

“I'll try to say a little more:
Love went on and on
Until it reached an open door —
Then Love Itself
Love Itself was gone.”

Leonard Cohen (1934–2016) Canadian poet and singer-songwriter

"Love Itself"
Ten New Songs (2001)

Gianluigi Buffon photo

“My worst vice is gluttony. I try to keep myself under control because I’m an athlete, but once a week I like to pig out and act like a normal person.”

Gianluigi Buffon (1978) Italian association football player

Buffon, as quoted in Football Italia (07/01/07)

Tupac Shakur photo
Patch Adams photo

“Take a close look at the part that "love" plays in your life. Make an inventory of love: people, things, ideas, experiences. Try to live your gratitude.”

Patch Adams (1945) Physician, activist, diplomat, author

Source: House Calls: How we can all heal the world one visit at a time (1998), p. 10

Bhakti Tirtha Swami photo
Eleanor H. Porter photo
Akon photo

“It's been so long that I haven't seen your face I try to be strong.”

Akon (1973) singer

Right Now (Na Na Na)
Song lyrics, Freedom (2008)

Jackson Pollock photo
James Brown photo

“Try me. Try me.
And your love will always be true.
Oh I need you (I need you).
Hold me. Hold me.
I want you right here by my side.
Hold me. Hold me.
And your love we won't hide.”

James Brown (1933–2006) American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist

Try Me, from Please Please Please (album) (1959)
Song lyrics

Werner Heisenberg photo
Albert Schweitzer photo

“I have given my life to try to alleviate the sufferings of Africa. There is something that all white men who have lived here like I must learn and know: that these individuals are a sub-race. They have neither the intellectual, mental, or emotional abilities to equate or to share equally with white men in any function of our civilization. I have given my life to try to bring them the advantages which our civilization must offer, but I have become well aware that we must retain this status: the superior and they the inferior. For whenever a white man seeks to live among them as their equals they will either destroy him or devour him. And they will destroy all of his work. Let white men from anywhere in the world, who would come to Africa, remember that you must continually retain this status; you the master and they the inferior like children that you would help or teach. Never fraternize with them as equals. Never accept them as your social equals or they will devour you. They will destroy you.”

Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) French-German physician, theologian, musician and philosopher

This has usually been presented as something "said shortly before his death" without any definite source, but appears to be entirely spurious. The "FAQ about the life and thoughts of Albert Schweitzer" http://www.schweitzer.org/faq?lang=en#rasist asserts "This quote is utterly false and is an outrageously inaccurate picture of Dr. Schweitzer’s view of Africans. Dr. Schweitzer never said or wrote anything remotely like this. It does NOT appear in the book African Notebook." This refers to some citations of it being from Afrikanische Geschichten (1938), which was translated as From My African Notebook (1939) by Mrs. C. E. B Russell
Misattributed

Taylor Swift photo
Cannonball Adderley photo
Kent Hovind photo
Avril Lavigne photo

“If you're trying to turn me into something else? It's easy to see, I'm not down with that.”

Avril Lavigne (1984) Canadian singer-songwriter and actress

"Nobody's Fool"
Let Go (2002)

Paul Valéry photo

“The wind is rising! . . . We must try to live!”

Paul Valéry (1871–1945) French poet, essayist, and philosopher

As translated by by C. Day Lewis
Variant translations:
The wind is rising ... we must attempt to live.
Charmes ou poèmes (1922)
Context: The wind is rising!... We must try to live!
The huge air opens and shuts my book: the wave
Dares to explode out of the rocks in reeking
Spray. Fly away, my sun-bewildered pages!
Break, waves! Break up with your rejoicing surges
This quiet roof where sails like doves were pecking.

Keanu Reeves photo
Lionel Messi photo
Mia Khalifa photo
Dua Lipa photo

“Everything that I do is very autobiographical. I’m trying to be as much of an open book as possible and give the audience every single piece of me.”

Dua Lipa (1995) English singer and songwriter

Dua Lipa Plays With Boundaries, Interview, 2017-03-29 https://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/dua-lipa,

“Spiritual awakening is not a special feeling, state, or experience. It is not a goal or destination, somewhere to reach in the future. As the Buddha was trying to tell us (though few actually listened), it is not a superhuman achievement or attainment. You don’t have to travel to India to find it. It is not a special state of perfection reserved for the lucky or the privileged few. It is not an exclusive club. It is not an out-of-body experience, and it does not involve living in a cave, shutting off all your beautiful senses, detaching yourself from the realities of this modern world. It cannot be transmitted to you by a fancy bearded (or non-bearded) guru, nor can it be taken away or lost. You do not have to become anyone’s disciple or follower, or give away all your possessions. You do not have to join a cult. You do not have to follow anyone.

Rather, is a constant and ancient invitation – throughout every moment of your life – to trust and embrace yourself exactly as you are, in all your glorious imperfection. It is about being fully present and awake to each precious moment, coming out of the epic movie of past and future (“The Story of Me”) and showing up for life, knowing that even your feelings of non-acceptance are accepted here. It is about radically opening up to this extraordinary gift of existence, embracing both the pain and the joy of it, the bliss and the sorrow, the ecstasy and the overwhelm, the certainty and the doubt. Knowing that you are never separate from the Whole, never broken, never truly lost.”

Jeff Foster (1980) Spiritual teacher

Source: https://www.lifewithoutacentre.com/writings/shockingly-simple-principles-of-spiritual-awakening/

Mwanandeke Kindembo photo
Mwanandeke Kindembo photo
Fyodor Dostoyevsky photo
B.F. Skinner photo
George Orwell photo

“You must try harder. It is not easy to become sane.”

Source: 1984

Cassandra Clare photo
Johnny Depp photo
Tamora Pierce photo
George Orwell photo

“As I write, highly civilized human beings are flying overhead, trying to kill me.”

The Lion and the Unicorn (1941), Part I: England Your England http://www.k-1.com/Orwell/index.cgi/work/essays/lionunicorn.html
"The Lion and the Unicorn" (1941)
Source: The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius
Context: As I write, highly civilized human beings are flying overhead, trying to kill me.
They do not feel any enmity against me as an individual, nor I against them. They are ‘only doing their duty’, as the saying goes. Most of them, I have no doubt, are kind-hearted law-abiding men who would never dream of committing murder in private life.

Swami Vivekananda photo
Gustav Mahler photo
Louisa May Alcott photo
Umberto Eco photo
Alan Bennett photo
Haruki Murakami photo
Pablo Picasso photo

“It's like God's. God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant, and the cat. He has no real style. He just goes on trying other things.”

Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer

Picasso quoted in 'TIME'; quoted in: The Atlantic, Vol. 214 (1964), p. 97.
Picasso commented on his ambiguous style, or use of multiple styles.
1960s

Ralph Waldo Emerson photo
Rick Riordan photo
George Carlin photo
Christopher Paolini photo
Anne Frank photo
Martin Luther photo
Rainer Maria Rilke photo
Johnny Cash photo
Joyce Meyer photo
Joyce Meyer photo
Louis Sachar photo
Osamu Dazai photo
Louisa May Alcott photo

“Far away in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.”

Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888) American novelist

As quoted in Elbert Hubbard's Scrap Book (1923) by Elbert Hubbard, p. 62

John Quincy Adams photo

“Try and fail, but don't fail to try.”

John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) American politician, 6th president of the United States (in office from 1825 to 1829)
Alice Walker photo
George Carlin photo

“Ever wonder about those people who spend $2 apiece on those little bottles of Evian water? Try spelling Evian backward.”

George Carlin (1937–2008) American stand-up comedian

Source: George Carlin Reads to You: An Audio Collection Including Recent Grammy Winners Braindroppings and Napalm & Silly Putty

Anne Frank photo

“Sometimes I believe that God wants to try me, both now and later on; I must become good through my own efforts, without examples and without good advice.”

Anne Frank (1929–1945) victim of the Holocaust and author of a diary

Source: The Diary of a Young Girl

Louise L. Hay photo

“You've been criticising yourself for years and it hasn't worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.”

Variant: You have been criticizing yourself for years and it hasn't worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.
Source: You Can Heal Your Life

Neal A. Maxwell photo

“The laughter of the world is merely loneliness pathetically trying to reassure itself.”

Neal A. Maxwell (1926–2004) Mormon leader

Source: The Neal A. Maxwell Quote Book

Corrie ten Boom photo
Anne Frank photo
Harper Lee photo
Tamora Pierce photo
John Cage photo

“I am trying to be unfamiliar with what I'm doing.”

John Cage (1912–1992) American avant-garde composer
Avril Lavigne photo
Chris Colfer photo

“I have my big-boy pants on right now. I'm trying not to cry!”

Chris Colfer (1990) actor, singer, book author

Interview Quotes, 68th Golden Globes Speech (2011)

“I'm tired of trying to do something worthwhile for the human race, they simply don't want to change!”

August Dvorak (1894–1975) American scientist

Discovery Magazine, 1997 http://discovermagazine.com/1997/apr/thecurseofqwerty1099/

Joanna MacGregor photo
Bill Evans photo
T. B. Joshua photo

“People will challenge you, question you, try to get you off track. Don't listen to the temptation to act out of character.”

T. B. Joshua (1963) Nigerian Christian leader

On temptation - "'ATTRIBUTING THE SATELLITES SUCCESS TO ME IS BLASPHEMY' – T.B. JOSHUA" http://www.modernghana.com/print/247180/1/attributing-the-satellites-success-to-me-is-blasph.html Modern Ghana (November 4 2009)

Matka Tereza photo

“I try to give to the poor people for love what the rich could get for money. No. I wouldn't touch a leper for a thousand pounds; yet I willingly cure him for the love of God.”

Matka Tereza (1910–1997) Roman Catholic saint of Albanian origin

1970s
Source: Malcolm Muggeridge, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, A Gift For God: Prayers and Meditations, New York: Harper & Row, 1975. p. 61; Cited in: M. Dhavamony. "Mother Teresa's mission of love for the poor" in: Studia missionalia, Vol 39. (1990), p. 137

J. Paul Getty photo

“My father said, 'You must never try to make all the money that's in a deal. Let the other fellow make some money too, because if you have a reputation for always making all the money, you won't have many deals.”

J. Paul Getty (1892–1977) American industrialist

J. Paul Getty cited in: Alison Branagan (2009) Making Sense of Business: A No-Nonsense Guide to Business Skills. p. 136

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn photo
Bawa Muhaiyaddeen photo
Amos Oz photo
Karl Popper photo
Alfred Jodl photo
Avril Lavigne photo
Abraham Lincoln photo

“Believing that these propositions, and the [conclusions] I draw from them can not be successfully controverted, I, for the present, assume their correctness, and proceed to try to show, that the abandonment of the protective policy by the American Government, must result in the increase of both useless labour, and idleness; and so, in pro[por]tion, must produce want and ruin among our people.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

"Fragments of a Tariff Discussion", Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. 1, p. 415 http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln1/1:423?rgn=div1;view=fulltext; according to the source Lincoln's "scraps about protection were written by Lincoln, between his election to Congress in 1846, and taking his seat in Dec. 1847".
1840s

Karel Čapek photo
Mark Twain photo

“It is not worth while to try to keep history from repeating itself, for man's character will always make the preventing of the repetitions impossible.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

Mark Twain in Eruption: Hitherto Unpublished Pages About Men and Events (1940) edited by Bernard DeVoto